Spock

Notes

Early Life

Born to the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth, Sarek, and his Human wife, Amanda, Spock was raised on Vulcan. As a young boy Spock was tormented by his classmates at school, who devised new insults for him each day in an attempt to provoke an emotional reaction from him. Spock usually contained his emotions, though insults directed at his mother did provoke him into rage on occasion. 1

Spock sought to live his life according to Vulcan traditions, though he was concerned that his mother would see this as a rejection of her - something she assured him that she would never feel. As he matured Spock applied to both the Vulcan Science Academy and Starfleet. He was accepted to the former, but during his acceptance ceremony an offhand comment by the director of the academy concerning the disadvantage of having a Human mother caused Spock to reject membership, the first person to do so.1

Career

In Starfleet Spock rose to the rank of Commander by 2258, and served at Starfleet Academy in that year. He devised the infamous Kobayashi Maru scenario, in which a cadet is required to rescue a civilian vessel which has been disabled in the Klingon Neutral Zone; during the rescue the ship is attacked and destroyed by an overwhelming force of Klingon warships. When Cadet Kirk became the first person to defeat the test, by reprogramming the simulation to turn off the Klingon vessel's shields, Spock lodged a formal complaint against Kirk. The hearing against Kirk was interrupted by the crisis prompted by Nero's incursion into the timeline and his attack on Vulcan.1

As the bulk of Starfleet was engaged elsewhere, Spock was assigned to the Enterprise under Captain Pike. Pike placed him in command of the ship when he was forced to surrender himself to Nero. Spock's command of the ship was brief; after Nero destroyed Vulcan Spock chose to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet to plan an attack against the Narada, much to Kirk's displeasure. Kirk favoured chasing the Narada directly, a path Spock saw as illogical. When Kirk resisted the plan Spock had him thrown off the ship, dumping him on the planet Delta Vega. Kirk managed to return to the Enterprise via a transwarp beaming technique. Kirk confronted Spock over the destruction of Vulcan and the death of his mother, provoking him into an emotional outburst in which he attacked and almost killed Kirk. Realising that the destruction of his home planet had left him emotionally compromised, Spock resigned his command of the Enterprise and handed it over to Kirk.1

He continued to serve on the ship, and was instrumental in ultimately stopping Nero; Spock and Kirk beamed to the Narada as it attacked Earth, allowing Spock to steal the research vessel Jellyfish along with its supply of red matter. Spock used the Jellyfish to destroy Nero's drill and lure him away from the planet, where he turned to ram. Beamed out at the last moment by the Enterprise, Spock's action caused the red matter aboard the Jellyfish to ignite within the Narada, creating a black hole. When Kirk offered assistance to Nero, reasoning that it was logical to offer compassion, Spock mildly disagreed with his Captain. Nero refused the offer in any case, and Kirk had the Enterprise destroy the Narada.1

When Kirk was placed in permanent command of the Enterprise in recognition for his actions in saving Earth, Spock offered his services as first officer. Kirk gratefully accepted.1

Relationships

Spock became involved in a romantic relationship with Cadet Uhura during her time at the Academy. Despite her being one of the top Cadets at the Academy he did not assign her to the Enterprise during the Nero crisis in an attempt to avoid any appearance of favouritism, much to her displeasure. When she complained about the decision, pointing out that her performance and credentials merited the Enterprise placement, Spock quickly concurred.1